Israel’s S.D.E in joint venture talks
An Israeli renewable energy company is talking to government officials to investigate the installation of a wave-energy electricity generation plant within the Larnaca marina that could also power up a water desalination unit, resolving two problems at once.
According to an announcement, Tel Aviv-based S.D.E has been in contact with the Cyprus government since 2006, when Christodoulos Pharconides from the Cyprus Institute of Energy had said that, "the Institute is willing to assist in your pursuit to establish the first wave energy electricity conversion plan in Cyprus" and had suggested the marina in Larnaca as a potential location for S.D.E's sea wave power plants.
Since then, S.D.E's officials have also been in talks with the manager of the Larnaca Marina, Glavkos Kariolou who was keen to promote the installation of renewable energy systems within the marina. Kariolou also said that the length of the available breakwater is 340-400 meters and that the height of the waves is suitable for the height requirements of S.D.E's unique technology.
As a result, Solon Kassinis, the Director of the Energy Service at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, invited the officials from S.D.E to present the sea wave power system to a panel that also included the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) and the Electricity Authority.
S.D.E's officials are conducting a number of meetings in Israel with several companies from Cyprus, with the objective to establish a joint venture that will promote, build and operate the sea wave power plants on the island.
CERA and the Transmission System Operator (TSO), have made estimates of future demand up to 2015, according to which, gross demand is expected to rise from 4,910 MWh in 2007 to 7,004 MWh in 2015, an average increase of 5.2% per annum.
The energy authorities of Cyprus have also investigated the possibility of installing wind turbines in the southern coast (near-shore applications). However, initial studies showed that due to the high depth of the sea at relatively short distance from the shore, more than 30m depth at a distance of 300 m from the shore, the cost of the installation of the wind turbines is expected to be very high, to the extend that the wind potential which exists at those areas will not be enough to compensate the investment.
The issue of desalination is also a top priority for the Cyprus government.
According to S.D.E, the main problem of desalination is that it requires large amounts of electricity. However, due to S.D.E's ability to produce electricity from sea waves at a very cheap price, the sea wave power plants will solve two main problems – the shortage of electricity, as well as the water shortage.
